Antidepressants

(I don't see how these are helpful)

From: 'CFS/ME TREATMENTS' <a href="http://fmcfsme.com/cfs-treatments.php">http://fmcfsme.com/cfs-treatments.php</a>

Antidepressants are often prescribed to CFS/ME patients for a number of reasons. The doctor may believe depression is the cause of the symptoms, or to treat co-existing depression caused by CFS/ME. <a href="http://fmcfsme.d-3systems.com/definitionsc.php#tricyclic" target="blank" title="Learn More Here">Tricyclic's</a> may also help adjust sleep cycles. For patients with muscle or joint pain, or co-existing fibromyalgia, <a href="http://fmcfsme.d-3systems.com/definitionsc.php#tricyclic" target="blank" title="Learn More Here">tricyclic antidepressants</a> (prescribed at much lower doses than are usual for depression) have been shown to be effective for neuralgic pain in fibromyalgia sufferers, and persons with diabetic myalgia.

However, it must be pointed out that some antidepressants can <a href="http://fmcfsme.d-3systems.com/definitionsb.php#Exacerbate" target="_blank" title="Learn More Here">exacerbate</a> symptoms, especially muscle weakness, sleep-waking dysfunction and cardiac arrhythmia, and many sufferers have suggested that the drugs have in fact caused relapses. Some sufferers cannot tolerate any antidepressants at all. The problems here may center around the significant differences in brain chemistry between those with depression or those with CFS/ME. Overall, there is no clinical evidence that antidepressants provide significant relief of the core symptoms of CFS/ME.

An antidepressant, in the most common usage, is a medication taken to alleviate clinical depression or dysthymia ('milder' depression). Several groups of drugs are particularly associated with:

<ul >

<li><a href="http://fmcfsme.com/drug_isocarboxazid.php">isocarboxazid</a> (Marplan®)</li>

<li><a href="http://fmcfsme.com/drug_moclobemide.php">moclobemide</a> (Manerix®)</li>

<li><a href="http://fmcfsme.com/drug_phenelzine.php">phenelzine</a> (Nardil®)</li>

<li><a href="http://fmcfsme.com/drug_tranylcypromine.php">tranylcypromine</a> (Parnate®)</li>

</ul>

<a href="http://fmcfsme.com/definitionsc.php#tricyclic" target="_blank" title="Learn More Here">Tricyclic's </a>

<ul >

<li><a href="http://fmcfsme.com/drug_amitriptyline.php">amitriptyline</a> (Elavil®, Endep®)</li>

<li><a href="http://fmcfsme.com/drug_anafranil.php">clomipramine</a> (Anafranil®)</li>

<li><a href="http://fmcfsme.com/drug_norpramin.php">desipramine</a> (Norpramin®, Pertofrane®)</li>

<li><a href="http://fmcfsme.com/drug_doxepin.php">doxepin</a> (Adapin®, Sinequan®)</li>

<li><a href="http://fmcfsme.com/drug_imipramine.php">imipramine</a> (Tofranil®)</li>

<li><a href="http://fmcfsme.com/drug_nortriptyline.php">nortriptyline</a> (Pamelor®)</li>

<li><a href="http://fmcfsme.com/drug_vivactil.php">protriptyline</a> (Vivactil®)</li>

</ul>

<ul >

<li><a href="http://fmcfsme.com/drug_citalopram.php">citalopram</a> (Celexa®)</li>

<li><a href="http://fmcfsme.com/drug_lexapro.php">escitalopram oxalate</a> (Lexapro®)</li>

<li><a href="http://fmcfsme.com/drug_paroxetine.php">paroxetine</a> (Paxil®)</li>

<li><a href="http://fmcfsme.com/drug_fluoxetine.php">fluoxetine</a> (Prozac®)</li>

<li><a href="http://fmcfsme.com/drug_fluvoxamine.php">fluvoxamine</a>(Luvox®)</li>

<li><a href="http://fmcfsme.com/drug_sertraline.php">sertraline</a> (Zoloft®)</li>

</ul>

These medications are now amongst the most commonly prescribed by psychiatrists and general practitioners, and their effectiveness and adverse effects are the subject of many studies and competing claims. A number of other antidepressant drugs, notably St John's Wort, are also widely studied and used.

Antidepressants are generally, if not in pharmacology, considered separately from stimulants. They are usually taken as a course over several weeks, months or years, and have a delayed onset of therapeutic action. Drugs used for an immediate euphoric effect are not generally considered antidepressants.

Despite the name, antidepressants are often used in the treatment of other conditions, including:

<ul >

<li>anxiety disorders</li>

<li>bipolar disorder</li>

<li>eating disorders</li>

<li>chronic pain conditions such as FM and CFS/ME</li>

</ul>

Some have also become known as lifestyle drugs, sometimes referred to as "mood brighteners". Conversely, other medications not known as antidepressants, including anti-psychotics in low doses and <a href="http://fmcfsme.d-3systems.com/definitionsa.php#Benzodiazepine" target="_blank" title="Learn More Here">benzodiazepines</a>, are also widely used to manage depression. In fact, the antidepressant term is sometimes applied to any therapy (e.g. psychotherapy, electro-convulsive therapy, acupuncture) or process (e.g. sleep disruption, increased light levels, regular exercise) found to improve clinically depressed mood. It is also the case that placebos tend to have a significant antidepressant effect, so that establishing something as an antidepressant in a clinical trial involves demonstrating a significant additional effect.